The evolution of office technology, from the 90s to now

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Jul
20

New office technology has driven a host of dramatic changes to our working lives since the 1990s.

With the help of Brother, we’ve taken a look at how new technology in the office, along with the introduction of new security and data privacy legislation, has changed since the 1990s.

The evolution of the office computer

In the early 90s, the average office computer typically had 4MB of memory, cost around £5,900 and run Windows 3.

To put that into context, 4MB is about the size of a single MP3 file!

Computers today are more than 2,000 times more powerful and cost less than a tenth of the price. We have also seen portable and handheld touchscreen devices taking computing out of the office.

A fundamental difference between the office computer of the 90s and today is the internet. Along with the many benefits it has delivered, it has also created new risks. Giving rise to an explosive growth in the cybersecurity industry.

The evolution of office communication

Tim Berners-Lee developed the technology that enabled email and web browsing. However, it was still far from commonplace in UK offices in the 90s. Predominantly being used to connect laboratories engaged in government research.

Today, 51% of the global population regularly use the internet, but in 1995, that figure was just 0.4%.

The height of communication technology back then was the fax machine, while the first brick-sized mobile phones were starting to become more widely adopted.

The era of fax machines came to an end with the rise of email which remains the most used communication platform for business today. However, more recently, instant and group messaging platforms like Slack and Workplace by Facebook have become popular, with features designed to facilitate efficient collaboration.

The evolution of digital file storage

Digitally storing large amounts of data in the 90s typically meant transferring it to a disk or even tape. There were many different competing formats that emerged during the decade, which are now largely obsolete.

Further breakthroughs, hard disk drives and solid state disks provided ever bigger amounts of storage throughout the decade.

By the 2000s, on-site servers began to be replaced by cloud storage, driven by a need both for off-site accessibility and disaster preparedness.

The evolution of search

“Google it” is now such a ubiquitous term that it even appears in the Oxford English Dictionary, but back in the 90s, searching for information could be far more time consuming.

If data was stored digitally in the 90s, it was likely to be on physical formats like discs or tapes because of the limitations of the computers of the time.

Today, smartphones and 4G data networks mean we all have the power to search vast resources of data while on the go, and can even browse the net using voice commands.

The evolution of secure document management

In the 90s, document management is likely to have meant just one thing – paper, and plenty of it!

Finding the right document might mean hours of painstaking searching through racks of files and cabinets in dusty basements.

Indeed, paper use actually doubled between 1980 and 1995 because of the rise of affordable laser printing.

During the 2000s, the rise of secure digital storage saw paper use fall, while the ability to search electronically meant the right file was easy to find.

Although paper still features in many processes today, the benefits of digitisation mean that scanning technology has become key for many businesses.